It seems to me that Virgin Atlantic is making a mistake in retiring their 4 P&W powered 747-200s when the 7 747-400s begin arriving. Currently the fleet is under an immense amount of pressure and is overstretched. Why not keep the P&W 747-200s G-VGIN, G-VIRG, G-VJFK and G-VLAX around for 2-3 more years? Wait until all of the 747-400s on order are delivered to the fleet and the first few A340-600s begin arriving at LHR.

On a personal note, I saw G-VJFK "Boston Belle" on the 21st of this month at EWR. She looked splendid.

"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid." D. Eisenhower

It probably costs a lot to to maintain the P&W's. The 744 will be coming in soon as they where the Alitilia ones! Also Virgin is getting a ton of A340's, I am sure they will have more then enough planes without the P&W classics.
I think you are just bitter towards Virgin as the got rid of G-VMIA and now they are getting rid of some more classics!
Iain

It is true that I was not happy with them when they retired MY plane G-VMIA! The other "P&W Classics" though don't have any real sentimental value to me. I have never flown on any of them etc. In fact, it was only for the first time on Thursday that I saw a P&W Virgin "Classic". (Obviously I have seen them at one time or another before, but I didn't write down the registration.) Constantly though, we hear how the current fleet is stretched to the max. It seems to me that rather than have an increase of just 3 planes (If they were to retire the 747-200s) why not have a 7 plane increase? That will allow for the expansion that Branson is keen on obtaining. Does anyone know if the P&W "Classics" are up for D checks soon?

"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid." D. Eisenhower

I think that we should take a deeper look at their route structure. Currently they fly from LHR and LGW to EWR, JFK, BOS, MIA, MCO, ORD, LAX, SFO, LAS, IAD, JNB, NRT, HKG, CPT, and DEL. They also have 3 Carribean destinations that I do not know the codes for.

Now, many of these airports are served more than once a day. For instance EWR (Newark) has service from LHR and LGW in the form of a 747-400 and 747-200. I believe that JFK is served 3 times daily with a 747-400, and the 747-200, A340-300 switching on and off for the other two flights. HKG requires 2 airplanes to operate the route along with NRT. What I am trying to say is, that Virgin is playing with fire currently. I think they should hold on to the P&W "Classics" to allow some breathing room. Possibly, you could base 2 at LHR and 2 at LGW as back up aircraft. This would also lessen the stress of having to bring aircraft back from maintenance in shortest amount of time possible.

Any thoughts, questions or remarks are welcome towards this idea.

"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid." D. Eisenhower

Very sensibly, they are standardising on just one engine type - the RB211-524B4 - with aircraft from both Cathay Pacific and Air New Zealand.

I flew on G-VRGN (Maiden Voyager) from MIA-LGW earlier this month in Upper Class, and I have to say that the interior was looking very tired and worn-out. Both the J and Y class seats are the same as when the aircraft was first introduced - albeit with the addition of seatback videos in Y and pop-up screens in J. Sony Watchmans are still provided to J class pax to watch additional movies.

They will be leasing in several (I believe three) B747-300s from Air Atlanta as an interim measure whilst they are overhauling and refurbishing aircraft.

CX747 - you are right, VGIN was the aircraft in question. VRGN is now with Tower Air.

The refurbishment programme is centering on the installation of the new Upper Class sleeper seats, bar units and beauty areas; I don't know what (if anything) is being done in the Y class cabin. I understand that this work is being carried out at FLS in Dublin.

I think it is a mistake, as VS needs more capacity. But they are old and as one pointed out above me, the P&Ws are costly to maintain or something. But the sexy Singapore Airlines has P&Ws on their 744s, and they fly to LHR 3x daily. :?